Piggy Foxy and the Sword of Revolution: Bolshevik Self-Portraits - Rilegato

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0300108494 ISBN 13: 9780300108491

Casa editrice: Yale Univ Pr, 2006

Riassunto

From the former Central Communist Party archive, a unexpected collection of humorous sketches and caricatures by Bolshevik leaders of themselves

What did the rulers of the Soviet Union truly think about each other?  Piggy Foxy and the Sword of Revolution provides a window onto the soul of Bolshevism no other set of materials has ever offered.  Sketching on notebook pages, official letterheads, and the margins of draft documents, prominent Soviet leaders in the 1920s and 1930s amused themselves and their colleagues with drawings of one another. Nearly 200 of these informal sketches, only recently uncovered in secret Soviet files are reproduced here. Funny, original, spontaneous, sometimes vicious or grotesque, the drawings and their accompanying notes reveal the relationships and mindsets of the Bolshevik bosses at the time of Stalin’s rise to power with blazing immediacy.

The album’s editors select characteristic drawings by such prominent leaders as Nikolai Bukharin, who depicts himself as “piggy foxy,” Valery Mezhlauk, and Stalin himself, whose trademark blue pencil appears on several of the drawings. A number of sketches of unknown authorship are also included. The editors identify the political issues, events, and discussions that inspired the drawings, and they provide biographical information about the people who drew and were drawn. The book opens a rare window on Stalin’s inner circle, allowing us access to the powerful men who, despite living in a humorless epoch, developed a special humor of their own.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Alexander Vatlin is senior research fellow in the History Department of Moscow State University. He is also co-founder and vice president of the Russian Association for Research in Modern Russian History. Larisa Malashenko is researcher at the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI), Moscow. Both authors live in Moscow.

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Piggy Foxy and the Sword of Revolution

Bolshevik Self-Portraits

Yale University Press

Copyright © 2006 Yale University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-300-10849-1

Contents

Foreword by Simon Sebag Montefiore..............................................viiAcknowledgments.................................................................xvIntroduction....................................................................1PART ONE. Gallery of Leaders....................................................11V. I. Lenin.....................................................................16I. V. Stalin....................................................................18L. B. Kamenev...................................................................20L. D. Trotsky...................................................................22G. Ye. Zinoviev.................................................................24N. I. Bukharin..................................................................26M. I. Kalinin...................................................................28V. M. Molotov...................................................................30A. I. Rykov.....................................................................32Ya. E. Rudzutak.................................................................34M. P. Tomsky....................................................................36F. E. Dzerzhinsky...............................................................38A. A. Andreyev..................................................................40K. Ye. Voroshilov...............................................................42L. M. Kaganovich................................................................44S. M. Kirov.....................................................................46A. I. Mikoyan...................................................................48G. K. Ordzhonikidze.............................................................50V. V. Kuibyshev.................................................................52V. Ya. Chubar...................................................................54S. V. Kosior....................................................................56S. I. Syrtsov...................................................................58A. S. Bubnov....................................................................60G. M. Krzhizhanovsky............................................................62N. K. Krupskaia.................................................................64M. M. Litvinov..................................................................66G. L. Piatakov..................................................................68K. B. Radek.....................................................................70I. T. Smilga....................................................................72A. A. Solts.....................................................................74M. F. Shkiriatov................................................................76Ye. M. Yaroslavsky..............................................................78L. Ye. Mariasin.................................................................80S. L. Kruglikov.................................................................82N. G. Tumanov...................................................................84N. P. Briukhanov................................................................86G. I. Lomov (Oppokov)...........................................................88A. I. Gurevich..................................................................90N. Osinsky (V. V. Obolensky)....................................................92V. V. Shmidt....................................................................94R. P. Eideman...................................................................96M. M. Lashevich.................................................................98V. A. Antonov-Ovseyenko.........................................................100S. S. Kamenev...................................................................102I. P. Tovstukha.................................................................104V. N. Vasilievsky...............................................................106A. M. Nazaretian................................................................108Ya. A. Yakovlev.................................................................110D. Bedny........................................................................112N. D. Kondratiev................................................................114D. B. Riazanov..................................................................116O. Yu. Shmidt...................................................................118PART TWO. Comrades and Problems.................................................123Deviations and Oppositions......................................................123Supplementary Agendas...........................................................141Economic Conflicts and Rapid Industrialization..................................167The Congress of the Victors and the Plenum of the Condemned.....................185Index of Drawings by Artist.....................................................206

Chapter One

Gallery of Leaders

It is important to remember that the following portraits of Soviet party and state leaders, made in the 1920s and 1930s, were created by amateurs, not professional artists, and were intended only for a narrow circle of comrades. Their historical value is much greater than their artistic quality. This part mostly contains the works of Nikolai Bukharin, Valery Mezhlauk, and Yemelian Yaroslavsky, who sketched these portraits of their colleagues in notebooks and on scrap paper during the working meetings and plenums of the highest party and state bodies.

As a rule, the amateur artists attempted to closely reproduce the appearance of their subjects. In order to make it easy to judge the success of these attempts, we have included photographs of the actual people next to their cartoon portraits. (For a handful of individuals, however, it has not been possible to obtain a photograph.) The caricatures are more interesting. They reflect the character of the subject, his attitude toward the issues on the agenda, and his place in the hierarchy of Bolshevik leadership. The artists were well aware that their work could cause anger and dissatisfaction. As a result, portraits of Stalin are never grotesque or even comical. But newer members of the Politburo were apparently much more open-minded about being lampooned.

The gallery of leaders opens with the most important Politburo members, followed by Central Committee workers, military figures, economists, bankers, and some prominent scientists and writers. We see together leaders of the internal opposition, Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Trotsky; chairmen of the government, such as Rykov and Molotov; and the temperamental Anastas Mikoyan and Sergo Ordzhonikidze.

Next come the portraits of the oppositionists (figs. 59-67), followed by those of high-ranking members of the Central Committee and workers in the Central Control Commission (figs. 68-72) who played an important role in purging dissent and opposition in the party. A frequent subject was Georgy L. Piatakov, the deputy people's commissar of heavy industry. His personal record had been marred by his friendship with Trotsky in the 1920s, which prevented this most talented economist from occupying the highest posts in the government. Another former member of the opposition, Karl Radek, also never became a political heavyweight. After Radek publicly recanted his oppositionist views, Stalin personally pardoned him and allowed him to work on foreign policy issues; even so, he was never elected a member of the Central Committee.

The gallery contains representations of four chairmen of the State Bank of the USSR (Piatakov, Nikolai G. Tumanov, Lev Ye. Mariasin, and Solomon L. Kruglikov), as well as of Nikolai P. Briukhanov, the people's commissar of finances until 1930 (fig. 76; Briukhanov also appears in the second part of the book, with Stalin's commentary, in fig. 135). Writings on the portraits of these Soviet finance workers (including those in Stalin's famous blue pencil) reveal the difficulty and danger of their work. During the time of the forced industrialization and centralization of the monetary system, they had to satisfy institutional interests and simultaneously fulfill the Politburo's directives to find additional resources for capital construction. They all became victims of Stalin's purges in 1936-37.

The next group of portraits depicts the heads of military and economic departments. Some of them, like Vladimir A. Antonov-Ovseyenko, Nikolai Osinsky, and Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, wielded more influence than their posts would normally allow, due to their past contributions to the party. In all likelihood, only Krzhizhanovsky corresponded to the image of the "Old Bolshevik": many of the other leaders were barely over forty, and they look like greenhorns in the drawings by their older colleagues.

Another set contains portraits of Central Committee apparatus workers sketched by Yemelian M. Yaroslavsky in 1923. The creator jokingly called it "the whole of the synkletos [Senate, in Greek], high brass, and the town elders," and noted that the gallery "still had an opening for the 'General' [Secretary] ... (for the time being!)" Indeed, of the several dozen portraits, there are just a few of the original Politburo members. Most are images of little-known, low-ranking apparatchiks. Some of them, such as Amayak M. Nazaretian and Ivan P. Tovstukha, went on to have solid careers and even become famous; others quietly disappeared, victims of inner-party battles and underhanded intrigues.

A section of the album is dedicated to well-known figures in Soviet science and culture during the 1920s and 1930s (figs. 89-92). They came to be a focus of the amateur party artists as they ascended in rank and occupied positions of power. Nikolai D. Kondratiev was in charge of the Institute of Markets of the People's Commissariat of Finances, and David B. Riazanov was head of the Marx and Engels Institute (although their posts did not save them during the purges). The poet Demian Bedny and Arctic explorer Otto Shmidt were important propaganda icons, and thus frequent subjects of caricatures.

Finally, there are group portraits. Comments in the margins give us valuable information about the course of discussions about various issues among those in power, and about when the cartoons were created. One drawing in particular illustrates a typical problem: "organizing a syndicate for sales of poultry products in foreign markets"-that is, exporting eggs (fig. 93). In late 1927-early 1928, the interests of several powerful agencies collided over the issue of the centralization of exports. Archives retain records of heated battles fought over the course of many months. The decision to set up a syndicate, preapproved by the deputy heads of the Council of People's Commissars and the Labor and Defense Council on 15 March 1928, was not certified largely because of the opposition of N. A. Uglanov, head of the Moscow party organization and a future right deviationist. He was worried that the centralization of egg exports would exacerbate the already dire situation of food supplies in Moscow. The caricaturist portrayed him claiming that "Muscovites will gobble up the eggs on Easter." Finally, on 22 May 1928, the Politburo rejected the idea of a poultry-egg syndicate. This was probably the day of the creation of the group portrait of Tomsky, Mikoyan, and Uglanov.

The popularity of different Bolshevik leaders with the caricaturists depended on personal sympathies and antipathies, and on the willingness of potential subjects to take a joke. Piatakov, Mikhail I. Kalinin, Mikoyan, and Feliks E. Dzerzhinsky were preferred models for the artists. This collection includes only the most representative of the many caricatures and sketches of them. On the other hand, some well-known persons appear only in the second, topical part of the album. As for the artists themselves, Bukharin loved to mock himself, while Mezhlauk and Yaroslavsky shied away from self-portraits.

Bukharin was the most gifted artist of all. His caricatures, sketches, and portraits are original, very detailed, and demonstrate skill in various techniques. The dates on his drawings show that he worked on them in series, as inspiration struck him. On one day he created both a self-portrait and a portrait of Ordzhonikidze as a tsarist army officer (figs. 13 and 42). The timing of his drawings reflects the schedule of work in the state and party branches. Portraits of Dzerzhinsky and Kamenev are dated 25 June 1923; since there were no official Politburo sessions on that day, it is possible that Bukharin made them at one of the informal preparatory meetings. Soon after that, on 3 July, Dzerzhinsky spoke on the first four topics of the Politburo agenda. A caricature on Kamenev is tied to the discussion of the state budget on 14 June 1923 and the following days.

Bukharin did not hesitate to use grotesque images: a twiglike Karl Radek, shriveled by theoretical discussions by 1952 (a year he never lived to see; fig. 65); the keeper of party morale Aron Solts looking like an Athenian owl or a fairy-tail crow (fig. 68); an "animalistic" image of Zinoviev, dated 3 March 1926 (fig. 10). As president of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, Zinoviev was not a main speaker, but his spirited participation in discussions, coupled with his lionesque mane, seems to have evoked the image of a feral beast.

In one drawing Bukharin pictured himself as a "piggy foxy" (fig. 15). There are few piggish traits in the image, but quite a lot of foxiness: sharp nose and ears, bushy tail, and so on. We may never know what prompted Bukharin to depict himself like that, but, ironically, it accurately predicted his fate. In March 1938, Procurator General Andrei Vyshinsky thundered at the third show trial: "What about Bukharin, this vile mix of a fox and a swine, how did he behave in this regard? As it becomes a fox and a swine." What a tragic consonance!

Gallery of Leaders

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) was one of the founders of the Russian Social-Democratic Worker's Party (RSDRP). He was a member of the Politburo in October 1917 and from 1919 to 1924. He was chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (the government) of Soviet Russia from October 1917, and chairman of the Defense Council from November 1918.

Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin (1879-1954). A party member from 1898, he was a member of the Politburo in October 1917 and from 1919 to 1953. He was general secretary of the party from 1922.

Lev Borisovich Kamenev (1883-1936) was a party member from 1901 and a Politburo member in 1917 and 1919-25. From 1922 to 1926 he was deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, from 1924 to 1925 chairman of the Labor and Defense Council, and from 1923 to 1926 director of the Lenin Institute. He was condemned in the first show trial of the Great Purge and shot.

Lev Davydovich Trotsky (1879-1940) joined the revolutionary movement in 1897 and was a member of the Politburo in October 1917 and 1919-26. From 1918 to 1925 he was people's commissar of the army and navy and chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council. He was expelled from the party in 1927 and exiled abroad in 1929. He was assassinated in Mexico.

Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (1883-1936). A party member from 1901, he was a member of the Central Committee and the Politburo from 1921 to 1926, chairman of the Petrograd (Leningrad) Soviet from 1917 to 1926, and chairman of the Comintern Executive Committee from 1919 to 1926. He was found guilty in the first trial of the Great Purge in 1936 and executed.

Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (1888-1938) joined the Bolshevik Party in 1906 and was a member of its Central Committee from 1917 to 1934. From 1919 he was a candidate member and from 1924 to 1929 a full member of the Politburo and executive editor of Pravda. In 1929 he was accused of right deviation, although he was later reinstated, and he was executed in 1938 after a show trial.

Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (1857-1946). A party member from 1898, he was a member of the Central Committee from 1919, a candidate Politburo member from 1921, and a full member from 1926. From 1919 to 1938 he was chairman of the Russian and Soviet Central Executive Committees, and, from 1938 to 1946, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (1890-1986). A party member from 1906, he was a member of its Central Committee from 1921 to 1956. From 1921 he was a candidate member, and from 1926 to 1957 a full member of the Politburo. From 1921 to 1930, he was secretary of the Central Committee. From 1930 to 1941 he was chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

Aleksei Ivanovich Rykov (1881-1938) joined the party in 1898. He was a member of the Central Committee from 1920 to 1934 and a Politburo member from 1922 to 1930. Rykov served as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars from 1924 to 1930, and was people's commissar of communications (mail and telegraph) from 1931 to 1936. He was convicted of treason and shot.

Yan Ernestovich Rudzutak (1887-1938) joined the party in 1905. He was a candidate Politburo member from 1923 to 1926 and a full member from 1926 to 1932. He was secretary of the Central Committee from 1923 to 1924, head of the People's Commissariat of Transportation (NKPS) from 1924 to 1930, and deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and the Labor and Defense Council from 1926 until his arrest in 1937 and subsequent execution.

Mikhail Pavlovich Tomsky (1880-1936) joined the party in 1904. He was a member of the Central Committee from 1919 to 1934 and a member of the Politburo from 1922 to 1930. He was chairman of the All-Union Central Trade Union Council (VTsSPS) from 1918. He was accused of right deviation in 1929 and later committed suicide.

Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (1877-1926). A party member from 1895, he was founder of the first Soviet state security apparatus, known as the VChK, or Cheka, and served as its chairman from 1917 to 1922. (The Cheka was replaced in 1922 by the GPU, or State Political Administration, the forerunner of the NKVD and the KGB.) Dzerzhinsky was people's commissar of transportation from 1921 to 1924, and chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy from 1924.

Andrei Andreyevich Andreyev (1895-1971). A party member from 1914, he was a member of the Central Committee from 1922 to 1961, and served as candidate member (1926-30) and full member of the Politburo (1932-52). In 1924-25 he was secretary of the Central Committee. He was later secretary of the Northern Caucasus territorial party committee (1927-30). From 1930 he was chairman of the Central Control Commission and deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov (1881-1969). A party member from 1903, he was a member of the Central Committee from 1921, Politburo member from 1926 to 1960, and people's commissar of defense from 1925 to 1940.

Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich (1893-1991). A party member from 1911, he was a member of the Central Committee from 1924 to 1957, candidate Politburo member from 1925 to 1930, and full Politburo member from 1930 to 1957. He was secretary of the Central Committee in 1924-25 and 1928-39. In the 1930s he headed several key commissariats.

Sergei Mironovich Kirov (1886-1934) joined the party in 1904. He was a member of the Central Committee from 1923, a candidate member of the Politburo from 1926, and a full member from 1930. From 1926 to 1934 he was the first secretary of the Leningrad city and provincial party committees and the Northwestern bureau of the Central Committee. In 1934 he was elected secretary of the Central Committee. His assassination that year led to the unleashing of the Great Purge of 1936-38.

Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (1895-1978). A party member from 1915, he was candidate and full member of the Politburo from 1926 to 1966. He was people's commissar of domestic and foreign trade from 1926 to 1930, people's commissar of supplies from 1930 to 1934, and people's commissar of the food industry from 1934 to 1938.

Grigory Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze (1886-1937), known as Sergo, joined the party in 1903 and was a member of its Central Committee from 1921 to 1927. From 1926 he was a candidate member of the Politburo; he was a full member from 1930. A member of the Central Control Commission from 1927 to 1934, he was also people's commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate from 1926 to 1930. Ordzhonikidze became chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy in 1930 and people's commissar of heavy industry in 1932. He committed suicide during the purges.

Valerian Vladimirovich Kuibyshev (1888-1935) joined the party in 1904 and was a member of its Politburo from 1927. He was chairman of the Central Control Commission from 1923 to 1927, chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) from 1926 to 1930, and chairman of the State Planning Committee.

Vlas Yakovlevich Chubar (1891-1939) joined the Bolshevik Party in 1917 and was member of the Politburo from 1935 to 1938. From 1923 to 1934 he was chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine. He was deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and the Labor and Defense Council of the USSR from 1934 to 1937. He was people's commissar of finances from 1937 until his arrest and subsequent execution.

Stanislav Vikentievich Kosior (1889-1939). A party member from 1907, he was a candidate Politburo member from 1927 and full member from 1930. From 1925 to 1928 he was secretary of the Central Committee, and from 1928 to 1938 he was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party. He was deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars from January 1938, until his arrest and execution.

(Continues...)

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Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Yale Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0300108494
• ISBN 13: 9780300108491
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 205
• Redattore: Vatlin Alexander, Malashenko Larisa
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile